


(Don't) Just Add Water

by minijhi



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Aliens, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 14:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13250586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minijhi/pseuds/minijhi
Summary: All Kyungsoo wants is to figure out what's going on between him and Jongdae.  Instead, he gets a potted plant.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> everything about this fic took me by surprise, especially the part where it exists at all— what do you mean I spent the entire new year writing this

It’s only November, but the apartment is decked in Christmas lights.  They’d even gotten a tree this year, a small thing squished in the living room beside the tv, and every inch of it is covered in mismatching baubles and tinsel.

Baekhyun hates that he misses Christmas every year, so Jongdae does his best to make sure that, in their little world, at least, the celebration is in full swing.  Two nights ago, the gifts had been given and opened, over a month too early.  Jongdae’s currently dressed in one of them, a fluffy warm pajama set that’s perfect for Baekhyun to cuddle up against.

And now—

“I’m tired, Jongdae.”  Baekhyun mumbles, staring at the changing lights on the tree.  His apple cider lies cooling on the table, half-finished.  “I think it’s time to sleep.”

“I know, love.”  Jongdae says, hand falling to cup against Baekhyun’s cheek.  Baekhyun’s been sleeping more as the weather grows colder, too tired to leave the house, and Jongdae thinks the timing’s about right.

He’s up later than usual today, dozing in Jongdae’s lap, drowsily talking about all the things he wants to do when spring comes again.  Jongdae listens, taking notes on the back of Minseok’s holiday greeting card, sent early to match their schedule.

“We should go to the beach.”  Baekhyun is saying.  “Or the mountains.  I want to learn how to play the piano.  And… and…”

He’s quiet for so long that Jongdae thinks he’s fallen asleep, but eventually Baekhyun shifts, pressing his lips against the juncture of Jongdae’s knee.  Jongdae closes his eyes as a lump forms in his throat— he’s going to miss this.

“And when spring comes,”  Baekhyun says, “I’ll finally get to meet that boy you like so much.”

Jongdae’s eyes fly open.  Baekhyun is smiling, and Jongdae swoops down to kiss him, sending cushions tumbling onto the floor in his enthusiasm.  Baekhyun is too out-of-it to respond in kind, but he does return Jongdae’s affection with sloppy kisses as he tries to make himself comfortable.

“Yeah?”  Jongdae whispers, watching Baekhyun’s eyes slip close in turn.  “Is that okay?  You want to meet Kyungsoo?”

“Of course.”  Baekhyun says.  He wraps both arms around Jongdae’s middle, head tucked under Jongdae’s chin.  “I’m sure I’ll like him a lot too.  I love you, Jongdae.”

“Sleep well, Baekhyunnie.  I love you too.”

Less than five minutes later, Baekhyun is out.  Jongdae doesn’t move, savoring every last second he gets to spend with Baekhyun.  It takes another hour before Jongdae is certain that Baekhyun’s sleep will last, far longer than a single night.  Heart twisting in his chest, Jongdae untangles himself from the couch.

There’s a message from Kyungsoo on his phone, sent an hour prior.

_“What are you doing tomorrow?  I have a long lunch break, if you’d like to meet up…”_

Jongdae swipes Baekhyun’s stone-cold cider off the table, finishing it in one long swallow.

 _“Sure,”_  He writes.   _“I have no plans.  I’d love to have lunch together.”_

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings : the pruning of a plant-human…?

Kyungsoo meets Jongdae at the end of summer, a fateful meeting on the shore of a windy beach, eighty miles from the city where they both live in.  It starts because Chanyeol accidentally falls asleep under Jongdae’s umbrella instead of his own— Kyungsoo is apologetic, Jongdae amused, and Chanyeol slumbers on, peaceful.

One of the first things Kyungsoo notices about Jongdae is his brilliant smile, and the second thing is the firmness of his grip as he extends his arm towards Kyungsoo in a friendly handshake.

After some deliberation, they leave Chanyeol sleeping beneath the umbrella.  Jongdae throws on a shirt, successfully hiding the third thing Kyungsoo noticed about him, and they spend the next hour sitting at the beachfront diner, talking.

Right before they part ways, Jongdae plucks a marker from the front desk and proceeds to write his phone number on Kyungsoo’s wrist.  Standing so close that their heads nearly touch, Kyungsoo notices one final thing about Kim Jongdae.

They're surrounded by saltwater and sand, but Jongdae smells like flowers and soil.  And when he returns Kyungsoo’s hand to him, he leaves a smudge of brown earth on the underside of Kyungsoo’s wrist, and a warmth blossoming in the pit of Kyungsoo’s stomach.

.

Back in the city, Kyungsoo works from ten to six even on the hottest days of the year.  He loves his job but he is ninety percent soot and dust and sweat, and Jongdae is earth and flowers and fingertips painted in watercolor.

He runs into Jongdae all over town, in places where they surely must have met before but never noticed.  Jongdae is always busy, always lively, and is an almost permanent fixture in the park two blocks from Kyungsoo’s office.

“My boyfriend loves flowers.”  Jongdae says during one of these accidental encounters.  He’s sketching the poppies from a nearby flowerbed, and a passing dog leaves a generous lick over the page.

“Boyfriend?”  Kyungsoo asks.  The heat feels particularly relentless, even though it’s autumn, even though it shouldn’t be.  Kyungsoo is slowly wilting.

“You know,”  Jongdae adds.  “Baekhyun and I aren’t adverse to sharing.”

“Ah.”  Kyungsoo says.

When Kyungsoo thinks about it, if it means having even the smallest part of Jongdae, he isn’t particularly adverse to sharing, either.

.

Despite everything Kyungsoo hears about Baekhyun, the year has almost come to a close without Kyungsoo ever meeting the other.  Baekhyun’s gone away for the winter, Jongdae explains vaguely, and every time Kyungsoo asks it’s a different foreign land, each one more fanciful than the last.

Jongdae’s schedule clears up, and he spends endless hours with Kyungsoo now, watching movies, trying out different cafés, shopping for presents.  Most of the time, they sit in Jongdae’s apartment, talking.

Jongdae’s a really nice person to talk to.

It shouldn’t surprise Kyungsoo, considering that their entire relationship stemmed from a one-hour conversation about oysters, but every time they part ways after hours of conversation, Kyungsoo’s surprised anew by how quickly time passed.

They talk about fishing, yes, but they also talk about their jobs, their families, year-end traditions and write corny lists of resolutions.  Jongdae tells Kyungsoo about growing up with _plans_ , and crying more than both of his parents combined when he eventually decided to study art instead of medicine.  Kyungsoo stares at the ceiling and confesses that he’s terrible at friendships, worse at relationships, and how most days the only two people in the world he’d talk to without being spoken to first are Chanyeol, and his mother, and sometimes not even them.

Jongdae listens, eyes serious and understanding, and Kyungsoo buries his face in his hands.  He’s said too much again— he always does this, always ruins things.

Jongdae’s hands gently pry Kyungsoo’s fingers from his face.

When Kyungsoo leaves the apartment hours later, Jongdae says, so softly, “I can’t wait for you to meet Baekhyun.”

There’s traces of Baekhyun all over the apartment, this person that Kyungsoo has never met but has heard so many stories about.  Photographs of him in many of the frames, a young man with a neverending assortment of hair colors and a bright grin that could rival Jongdae’s own.

Jongdae’s idea of _sharing_ is very different from what Kyungsoo originally thought.  It’s more heart, more love, and rooted in the unwavering faith that anyone he cared for would automatically care for Baekhyun as well.

Every time Kyungsoo thinks of Baekhyun, he grows slightly breathless.  Fear, mostly.  But also anticipation.  Because if Baekhyun is half the person that Jongdae is, then maybe, Kyungsoo can’t wait to meet him too.

Jongdae leans in.  Even in the dead of winter, he still smells like fresh leaves and flowers.  Jongdae makes Kyungsoo think of earth, of nature, but he owns exactly one potted plant.  He’d introduced it to Kyungsoo the first time Kyungsoo came over, a small thing in a white-and-blue pot, tied up with a fancy red ribbon for the holidays.

“I’m not going to kiss you,”  Jongdae murmurs, “But know that I’ll be thinking about it tonight.  Will you wait a few more months for us, Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo will.

.

Come late January, Kyungsoo meets Jongdae in the snow.

“Thank you for agreeing to look after him.”  Jongdae says, frazzled.  “I really didn’t expect to go on a business trip at this time of the year.”

Jongdae looks so upset, cradling the pot close to him.  It’s wearing a fluffy scarf instead of a Christmas ribbon this time, one that would serve a better purpose wrapped around Jongdae’s exposed neck.

“Don’t worry about it.”  Kyungsoo says, trying to sound reassuring as he takes the plant from Jongdae.  Kyungsoo hasn’t looked after anything alive since moving out of his family home, and despite all the research Kyungsoo has done since receiving Jongdae’s request, he wonders what it’ll do to their odd, budding relationship if he were to kill Jongdae’s beloved plant.

“He’ll be no trouble at all, I promise.  He’s really easy to look after.”  Jongdae says, reading Kyungsoo’s thoughts.  He’s still holding onto Kyungsoo’s wrist, and finally lets go, leaning down so he’s eye-level with the pot.

“See you soon, Baekhyunnie, love you.  Behave for Kyungsoo, okay?” Jongdae whispers.

“Baekhyun?”  Kyungsoo says, before he can stop himself.  “You named your plant after your boyfriend?”

“Ah— I wasn’t, I mean— yes.”  Jongdae says, shaking his head rapidly.  “That’s exactly what I did.”

“Please give him lots of sunlight and love.”  Jongdae says.  He blows the little plant a kiss, and after a beat, steps up and brushes his lips against Kyungsoo’s cheek.

.

For three whole weeks, it’s hard to tell if Jongdae’s plant is dead or alive, given that it’s a branch stuck into soil with not a leaf in sight.  Kyungsoo moves his furniture around so he can give the plant the sunlit spot on the windowsill, and when he has the time, he curls up in the armchair beside it and reads aloud.

And then, one morning, Kyungsoo spots a tiny green leaf growing from one of the lower branches.

“Wow.  Oh wow.”  Kyungsoo says, mouth falling open in delight.  He takes a million and one photos and sends them all to Jongdae, before worrying that it might be a fluke, and the leaf is probably going to fall off and die, and Kyungsoo has killed a plant that required almost zero care by caring for it too much.

But the leaf continues to thrive, and by the next weekend Kyungsoo has a plant with five whole leaves and all Jongdae’s responses are filled with hearts and exclamation marks.

“You’re doing so well.”  Kyungsoo tells it.  He falls asleep at the dining table, laptop battery running empty, and when he wakes up at four in the morning the apartment is pitch dark.

Kyungsoo stumbles back to the bedroom, dropping several items onto the floor with a clatter as he goes.  Crouched down on the floor to pick them up, Kyungsoo pauses.

There’s a strange noise coming from the window.

It’s an odd rustling, like someone crinkling the sheets after waking from a long slumber.  Kyungsoo unsteadily makes his way over to the windowsill to squint out it, but the noise isn’t coming from outside.  Instead, the small, baby leaf that sprouted over the weekend is curled back into itself, making a soft keening noise.

_“Jongdae, it’s too cold, I don’t like it, Jongdae, please turn up the heating, it’s cold.”_

Kyungsoo rubs a palm over his face, willing his head to clear.  By the time he looks back at the plant, all is silent.

 _You’re getting too old to be staying up so late,_ Kyungsoo tells himself firmly, shaking his head.  He stands, double-checking that the apartment door is locked and turning off the lights in the outside hall.

Before heading to the bedroom, he passes by the window to take the plant with him, so it'll be just a bit warmer for the night.

Just in case.

.

Except, the very next morning, Kyungsoo hears it again.

“Sorry, what?”  Kyungsoo says.  The branches bend slightly, the whispers falling silent.

Kyungsoo stands beside the plant all morning before he has to go to work, stirring his coffee and staring unblinkingly into the soil.

 _“Jongdae-e-e…I miss you…”_  The plant cries softly, the moment Kyungsoo’s about to give up.

Kyungsoo scrambles for his phone, opening up the camera, but Baekhyun says nothing else.  In the end, Kyungsoo settles for sending Jongdae a text message.  Nothing alarming, something easy enough to pass off as a joke if needed.

_‘Baekhyun is doing well, although he misses you.  I feel like I almost heard him say so this morning.’_

Jongdae’s reply comes a minute later.

_‘Did he really?  T_T tell him I miss him too…’_

It leaves Kyungsoo more confused than ever.  He does, however, make sure to relay the message to Baekhyun.

You know, just in case.

.

“Would you believe me if I told you I had a talking plant?”  Kyungsoo asks Chanyeol the next time they meet.  They’re at a pop-up restaurant in the heart of the city, and painted mermaids adorn the walls and ceilings.

“A what?”  Chanyeol says, only interested in rearranging the slices of tuna on his plate.

“A talking plant.”  Kyungsoo says.  “I can’t say it is a scintillating conversationalist, but the grasp of human language is fascinating.”

Chanyeol stares at him.

After dinner, he insists on following Kyungsoo home.

It’s been a week since Kyungsoo heard it talk for the first time, and as the weather gets warmer, the plant becomes increasingly restless.  Now it’s almost habitual for Kyungsoo to come home to low murmurs in his apartment, and once he’d gotten over the unnaturalness of it, Kyungsoo’s actually grown attached to the company.

The plant begins mumbling at once when Chanyeol enters Kyungsoo’s apartment, leaves rustling with interest.

_“Hello… hello… who are you, where is Jongdae… hello Kyungsoo… will you sing for me again, Kyungsoo, you have a beautiful voice… I miss singing…”_

Kyungsoo’s face flushes red.

“Hush, you.”  He says, nudging the pot with his foot.

_“I want dinner, did you go out to eat without me?  Will you make me food?  Everything you cook smells so good.  Where is Jongdae?”_

“You can’t even eat.”  Kyungsoo tells the plant.  “Baekhyun, this is Chanyeol.”

“Hello, Baekhyun.”  Chanyeol says, crouched down over the plant.  He strokes a finger down one of the leaves, curious and gentle.  “How peculiar.  Usually it’s the human that does most of the talking, not the plant.”

.

Chanyeol leaves after a long, noisy conversation with Baekhyun, telling him about rock bands and video games and unfortunate pet allergies.  Baekhyun suggests Chanyeol gets a plant to keep him company, while Chanyeol tries to explain that not all plants are as exciting as he is.  Kyungsoo tunes them out after the first twenty minutes, retiring to the bedroom for a much-needed respite.

Baekhyun continues giggling in the pot long after Chanyeol leaves, and when Kyungsoo goes to turn out the lights, Baekhyun stops him.

"Kyungsoo?  Can I sleep with you tonight?"  The plant asks.  “Ple-e-ase?”

Lying in bed half-an-hour later, Kyungsoo wonders how he’d come from dreaming about cuddling with Jongdae, to cuddling Jongdae's plant instead.

_“Will you sing me to sleep, Kyungsoo, you sounded so lovely last time…”_

Kyungsoo sighs.

.

When he wakes up the next morning, the bed is covered in twigs and dried leaves, and Baekhyun’s pot is empty.

“Shit.”  Kyungsoo says, scrambling upright.  There’s fresh earth all over his blankets, spilled out over the plastic Kyungsoo had laid over the sheets, and a set of unrecognizable, almost humanlike handprints.  Maybe a wild monkey crawled in through the window during the night and devoured Baekhyun.  Was that possible?

No, no it can’t be.  Kyungsoo lunges for the pot, thinking about the happy, giggly voice from last night that had pleaded to share the bed with Kyungsoo.  The pot is empty, nothing remains but soil.

God.  What is he going to tell Jongdae?

“Kyungsoo, is that you?”  A very familiar voice comes from beneath the mess.  The blankets start shifting, and Kyungsoo falls off the side of the bed when a young man pokes his head out of the blankets, hair a pale silver to match the season, and a sleepy smile bright enough to rival Jongdae’s.

“How on earth—”  Kyungsoo begins.

Definitely-Jongdae’s-Boyfriend-Baekhyun yawns, rolling over to the edge of the bed so he can look down at Kyungsoo.  “Good morning, Kyungsoo, will you make me breakfast?  I can eat now.”

There are green leaves stuck firmly to the crown of Baekhyun’s head, and he seems perfectly at ease, tangled among all the branches.  Kyungsoo tries to tell himself that Jongdae’s absent boyfriend has broken into Kyungsoo’s apartment in the night, but the longer he stares at Baekhyun, the situation seems to suggest something else entirely.

_No trouble at all, my ass, Kim Jongdae._

.

“Jongdae, I woke up this morning and your _plant_ had become your _boyfriend_ , and if you don’t pick up your phone in the next thirty seconds I’m going to donate him to a local nursery.”  Kyungsoo hisses into his phone, over the sizzling of oil.

Outside the safety of the kitchen, Baekhyun is humming to himself as he wanders around Kyungsoo’s apartment, picking things up and looking into drawers.

“Kyungsoo, can I take a shower?”  Baekhyun calls.

“I don’t know, can you?”  Kyungsoo mutters.  He hears Baekhyun open and shut the bathroom door anyway, and when he leaves the stove to check, the door is firmly closed and there’s the muted sound of running water.

Kyungsoo goes back to scrambling eggs viciously, hitting the call button beside Jongdae’s name again.

No response.

.

By the time Baekhyun emerges from a long shower, Kyungsoo has an entire array of breakfast items laid out across the table, and Kim Jongdae has not picked up his phone once.

“Can you actually eat food?”  Kyungsoo asks, making a final attempt to straighten the plates.  Baekhyun’s footsteps stop on the other side of the table.

“So I just remembered that I might be a desert plant.”  Baekhyun says instead, and Kyungsoo finally looks up.

“I’m a bit like pasta.”  Baekhyun explains.  “You know, when you cook it too long, and it becomes bloated and mushy.”

“Baekhyun.”  Kyungsoo says, aghast.  He yanks Baekhyun towards him and hastily attempts to pat him dry with the towel, but it’s too late.  Most of the moisture has long since seeped into his skin, leaving it tender and stretched thin.

“Why must you do this to me?”  Kyungsoo says.  “I’m not equipped to look after an alien plant, can’t you pay a little more attention to your own limits?”

“I’ll lie in the sun for awhile and I should be okay.”  Baekhyun says, tucking himself under Kyungsoo’s arm.  “Don’t worry about me.  Thank you for breakfast, Kyungsoo.”

.

After breakfast, Baekhyun calls his emergency contact number.  The phone call is brief but Baekhyun ends it bouncing on his toes, excited, handing Kyungsoo an address.

Kyungsoo looks at it.

“It’s not that kind of emergency, we don’t need to go to a hospital.”  Kyungsoo says, as he tries to bundle Baekhyun up so he won’t appear as leafy as he is.  Baekhyun complains that it’s too hot, and strips himself down to a T-shirt when Kyungsoo is driving.

They meet Minseok in the hospital cafeteria, a handsome doctor who somehow looks like he’s been having a rougher day than Kyungsoo.  Baekhyun pounces on Minseok the moment he sees him, wrapping himself around the doctor, chattering endlessly without letting go.

“I belonged to Minseokkie’s neighbor.”  Baekhyun says.  He’s holding a hot dog in his hands, having wheedled it out of Minseok:  “ _I slept all winter and I need food, you don’t want me to die, do you, hyung?”_

“I woke up one morning and there I was, in a little pot on his dining table.  But Minseokkie’s neighbor was awful and he sometimes watered me with coke and I hated him.  So I climbed out the window and fell onto Minseok’s balcony where I withered away in the sun for days—”

“You were there for two hours, tops.”  Minseok interrupts.

Kyungsoo watches them talk, mouth agape.  He’s grown accustomed to Baekhyun’s voice over the past few weeks, but he can’t wrap his head around the idea of it coming from a person instead of a plant.

Maybe it’s a good thing they’ve come to a hospital. Kyungsoo may need to attend his yearly checkup early this year.

“Anyway, Minseok found me and put me in a coffee cup and nursed me back to health and talked to me in such a lovely voice.  So I decided that Minseokkie would be mine, and I started growing again so I could meet him, but before I managed to bloom, hyung got his new job and gave me away to Jongdae.”

Baekhyun pauses for emphasis, and adds, “It was the saddest day of my life.”

“Don’t look at me like that.”  Minseok says to Kyungsoo.

“He was a plant.”  Minseok says.  “And he wasn’t really mine.  I could have put him back out in the balcony to die, but instead I gave him to Jongdae.”

“A tragedy.”  Baekhyun says.  He’s finished eating his hot dog, but doesn’t seem to notice, and his fingers are already halfway into his mouth.  “But Jongdae was sweet, and Minseokkie came to visit often.”

“This still doesn’t explain anything.”  Kyungsoo says.  “Where did you come from?”

“Minseok’s neighbor’s dining table.”  Baekhyun says, then “Ouch,” upon realizing he’d been chewing on his fingers.

“I can take him back with me after my shift today.”  Minseok says, checking his phone for the time.  “Jongdae’s coming back in two weeks, isn’t he?  I won’t be home a lot, but Baekhyun can look after himself.”

Seeing the look on Kyungsoo’s face, Minseok laughs.  “He can, I assure you.  He just doesn’t like to.”

“It’s okay.”  Kyungsoo says, and he turns to Baekhyun who’s waiting, quiet for once.  Baekhyun gives a tentative smile.

.

"Sorry, Kyungsoo, I was supposed to be home before this happened."  Jongdae says, when they finally get him on video call.  Baekhyun is sprawled across Kyungsoo’s lap, smiling stupidly at Jongdae's face.  Every now and then he reaches out to touch the screen of the phone, forgetting—  Kyungsoo wonders if Baekhyun knows what pixels are.

“It’s fine, it’s really fine.”  Kyungsoo repeats, jerking as Baekhyun manages to wriggle his fingers through an exposed hole in Kyungsoo’s shirt.  Kyungsoo stands up, sending Baekhyun tumbling to the floor.

Jongdae’s low laughter comes staticky but gleeful all the same.

“If you want some peace, tell him to go hang out with Jongin or Sehun.  It’s what I do all the time.”  Jongdae says, and from the floor, Baekhyun tries to kick the phone out of Kyungsoo’s hands.

“Hey.”  Jongdae says, serious.  “Thanks, Kyungsoo.  I mean it.”

Kyungsoo’s heartbeat quickens.  Even hundreds of miles away, under washed-out lighting and through a grainy phone connection, Jongdae’s undivided attention still makes Kyungsoo feel like someone hollowed out his insides and filled them with confetti.

It’s not a horrible feeling, exactly.

.

“Baekhyun, no.”  Kyungsoo groans, later that night.  “Go sleep in your pot.”

“Baekhyun, _yes_.”  Baekhyun says.  “Have you looked at me recently?  How could I possibly fit in a pot?”

“Fine.”  Kyungsoo says.  “Just don’t— do that.”

Baekhyun retracts his cold hands guiltily.  “Sing to me again, Kyungsoo.”  he says, pressing up against Kyungsoo’s side.  “It’s the only way I can sleep now.”

Kyungsoo turns to lie on his back in resignation, taking a deep breath.  When Baekhyun joins in quietly a couple of minutes later, in soft, perfect harmony, Kyungsoo swears his heart stops for a moment.

.

“When Jongdae said I was low maintenance, he means you definitely don’t have to go out of your way to look after me.”  Baekhyun whines, squirming out of Kyungsoo’s grip, though he has no room to escape.  “Why must you prune me?  It’s _rude_.”

Kyungsoo lets him wiggle for several moments before grabbing hold of Baekhyun’s hand again.  Baekhyun’s fingers are trembling, and Kyungsoo puts the pruner on the coffee table so that he’s free to cup Baekhyun’s hands between his.

“You have rotting leaves growing out of your arms.”  Kyungsoo says patiently, while Baekhyun kicks his legs out.  “Don’t you want to bloom nicely once spring comes around?”

“You don’t even know what kind of plant I am.”  Baekhyun sulks.  “I’m not a flower, I don’t need to look nice.”

Kyungsoo flips Baekhyun’s hand palm up again, so he can see the damaged network of branches crisscrossing out of Baekhyun’s skin.  Baekhyun had tried to hide it for a couple of days, keeping his hands to himself, but Kyungsoo caught on quickly enough, especially when Baekhyun stopped going over to Chanyeol’s because his hands hurt too much.

“Don’t you want to keep playing games with Chanyeol?  How can you use your hands if they get sick and fall off?”  Kyungsoo says reasonably.  He lays Baekhyun’s arm across his lap and reaches for the pruner again.

“My hands aren’t going to fall off!”  Baekhyun says with a squeak.  “Jongdae let them be, and they haven’t fallen off yet!”

Carefully, while Baekhyun’s holding absolutely still, Kyungsoo closes the sharp blade over a protruding branch.  Baekhyun whimpers.

“Do you cut Chanyeol’s fingers off when he comes over to visit?  Do you tell him he has too many fingers?”  Baekhyun says, eyes tightly squeezed shut, his voice wavering.  Kyungsoo thinks he’s making it harder on himself like that, not knowing when the next cut is going to come.  Kyungsoo quickly makes two additional snips, and then another.

Five minutes later, he’s completely tuned Baekhyun’s mantra of ‘I want Jongdae' out, and there’s over a dozen little branches laid across the newspaper carpet Kyungsoo had set out.

“You’re done.”  Kyungsoo says gently, rubbing a thumb over the scrunched up wrinkles by Baekhyun’s eyelids.  “Come on, open your eyes.”

Baekhyun blinks, looking down at his arms.  The unmanageable, prickly leaves are all gone, along with the decaying branches.

“Oh.”  He mumbles quietly, looking a little stunned.

Kyungsoo sweeps the rot and newspapers up in a bundle, taking them outside to dispose of beside the trash.  When he returns, Baekhyun’s waiting for him by the door, looking woeful.

It takes a generous amount of fussing and hello kitty bandaids before Baekhyun settles peacefully down beside Kyungsoo on the couch.  He’s quiet the rest of the night, curled up against Kyungsoo, seeking comfort, and for a horrible, lurching moment, Kyungsoo wonders if he’s made an irrevocable mistake.

But by the end of the week, Baekhyun’s yelling with Chanyeol over video games again, battering the controller with agile fingers, hands curiously wandering into every opening in Kyungsoo’s clothing once more.  One day at dinner, Baekhyun snakes an arm towards Kyungsoo’s, playful, and Kyungsoo takes his hand, palm up.

Baekhyun tenses for a second, then he lets Kyungsoo have it, uncurling his fingers for Kyungsoo to see.  The welts from before have completely healed over, and across the length of his arm are brand new buds and tiny green leaves, ready for spring.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Baekhyun’s curled up in his sunny spot by the window, half-basking, half waiting for Kyungsoo when Kyungsoo returns home.  Kyungsoo drops the mail onto the table and crouches down beside him, combing a hand gently through the leaves clustered across his shoulders.

“Did you spend the entire day sleeping again?”  Kyungsoo says, as Baekhyun stretches out like a cat.

“I’m an ornamental house plant.”  Baekhyun says, attempting to rest his entire upper body on Kyungsoo's bended knees.  “I don’t know what else you’re expecting from me.”

Kyungsoo snorts.  “I know you have a job.  Any plans on ever going to it?”

There’s a laugh from the kitchen, and Kyungsoo pauses, tilting his head towards the sound.

“If that’s you, Oh Sehun,”  Kyungsoo calls warningly, “I thought I banned you from using the stove.”

“Sehun?”  A voice says.  Kyungsoo freezes.

A familiar face steps through the open doorway of the kitchen, and Jongdae leans against the frame.  If Kyungsoo thought he looked good during those awful, fragmented video calls, he’s absolutely breathtaking now, casual and comfortable in Kyungsoo’s kitchen.  Kyungsoo has never wanted someone so much in his entire life.

Kyungsoo’s legs give out beneath him, and Baekhyun tackles him immediately.

“What are you, a climbing vine?"  Jongdae chides.  "Let Kyungsoo breathe, my little leaflet.”

He helps Kyungsoo to his feet, grip as solid and warm as their very first handshake.  “I hope you don’t mind that Baekhyun let me in.”

“No, not at all.”  Kyungsoo murmurs.  He’s staring at Jongdae’s lips, the pretty upward curve to them, and hurriedly jerks his eyes away.

“So,”  Jongdae says, leaning in.  There’s a stray leaf in his hair, and Jongdae no longer makes Kyungsoo think of fresh leaves, flowers and sunshine.  That feeling, it was always Baekhyun that he was been carrying around all this while, and when their lips meet in a silent hello, Jongdae reminds Kyungsoo of their promise, so many months ago.

“Encore!”  Baekhyun yells, situated on the ground between them, clapping enthusiastically.

.

“When he first found out he had to go away, Jongdae was going to leave me with Minseokkie.”  Baekhyun says, looping all around Kyungsoo and throwing an arm around him.  His leaves tickle against Kyungsoo's neck.  “But Minseok travels too much and Jongdae said I would _die_ , so Jongdae left me with you instead.  And now two months later, I’m still not dead, so clearly it worked out for the best after all.”

“I didn’t say you would die.”  Jongdae says sternly, and Kyungsoo twists Baekhyun’s ear.  “Although you would have been very lonely.”

“I die if I’m too lonely.”  Baekhyun says solemnly.  Then he beams at Kyungsoo, sunny and sweet.  “But I have Jongdae, and Minseok, and now I have you.  It’s not lonely at all.”

Jongdae’s pouring himself another drink at Kyungsoo’s dining table, listening with a small smile.  It’s been such a long time since Kyungsoo has seen Jongdae in person, but it also feels like he never went away at all.  He fits seamlessly into the space between Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, having filled it so long with video calls and text messages, a space meant for him all along.  With a start, Kyungsoo notices that Jongdae is holding not one, but two drinks in his hand.  Jongdae hands a glass to Kyungsoo, slipping beside him onto the couch.

Baekhyun wiggles so that he’s sprawled across both their laps.

“Let’s go on a picnic.”  Baekhyun says.  “To the beach.  Or maybe the mountains?  You need to take me to that beach where you both met, I want to see it.  Kyungsoo, what do you want to do this year?”

When Kyungsoo thinks about last year, he had Chanyeol, his mother, and a crush on a boy who’d been waiting for a little plant to wake up.

This year, he has Baekhyun.  And he’d like to think that he has Jongdae, too.  It’s a good start to a good season.

“Live.”  Kyungsoo decides, not without sentimentality.  “Live, grow, and bloom.”

“Yeah, okay.”  Baekhyun says, and his voice is full of laughter.  “Yeah, we can do that too.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, jongdae calls baekhyun a leaflet as a term of endearment, and this is so self-indulgent, what is going _on_. happy new year, with all my heart. i’m glad i spent 2017 with exo, and all of you.


End file.
